Pneumatic straw-stacker



Patented Nov. 23, 1897f 8mm .l nton Made/week Wituwoco. I X6 %@wea kw glam;

l NITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

ANTON MOELLENBEOK, OF AMITY, IOWA.

PNEUMATIC STRAW-STACKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,266, dated November 23, 1897. I Application filed fieptember 14, 1897. Serial No. 651,624. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANTON MOELLENBECK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Amity, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful ID1- provement in Pneumatic Straw-Stackers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to pneumatic strawstackers or straw-stacking attachments for threshing-machines; and it has to do with means for controlling the direction of discharge of the material from the mouth of the chute or trunk.

My invention involves the employment of an elbow-shaped hood hinged to and adapted to telescope upon the correspondingly-shaped discharge end of the trunk, as shown, for example, in Robinsons patent, No. 537,070, of April 9, 1893. I have improved upon this construction by prolonging the upper half of the elbow-shaped discharge end of the trunk downward in the form of a grating or grille, which will allow the air to pass, but not the straw, and which is so arranged that the hinged hood or deflector can slide over upon and cover more or less of the grille, as desired, so as to control very perfectly the direction in which the straw is blown upon the stack.

The nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, which represents a side elevation of so much of the trunk of a pneumatic straw-stacker as needed to illustrate. the invention.

I have not deemed it necessary to represent the stacker in full, inasmuch as said device is well known and in extensive use. One type of said stacker is shown in Letters Patent No. 537,070, hereinbefore referred to.

A is the outer portion of the discharge chute or trunk, through which the straw is blown. It is provided with a downwardlycurved elbow-shaped discharge end A.

B is the curved elbow-shaped hood or deflector, hinged to the trunk at b and adapted to slide back or telescope upon the discharge end A of the trunk. The upper and outer portion of the downwardly-curved discharge end-that is to say, the portion thereof which is farthest removed from the base of the trunk-is continued in the form of a grille or grating or open-work shield 0, having the same general contour and curvature as the portion of the discharge end A of which it forms in effect a continuation. This grating may be semicylindrical or even less in extent,

as shown, or it may be of greater extent, what is essential being that it should be of such extent as to stop and deflect the straw which is blown out, while allowing the Wind to pass through it unimpeded. It is conveniently and preferably formed, as shown in the drawing, of downwardlycurved parallel steel wires attached to the outer curved part of the discharge end A, made of, say, three-sixteenths-of-an-inch wire and set at intervals of about three-eighths of an inch apart. I prefer (although this is not absolutely necessary) to form the lower or inner part of. the extension of which the grating 0 forms the upper or outer part of solid or imperforate material similar to that of which the body of the trunk is composed, as indicated at A In other words, considering the parts A, A and C to form as a whole a downwardly-curved elbow-shaped dischargeextension of the trunk A, the outer side of this extension for a portion of its length is made as a grating or openwork part adapted to be covered more or less by the hinged and telescopic hood or deflector B. The hood B will of course be provided with any suitable devices by which it can be adjusted. I

The operation is as follows: When the hood is drawn back over the imperforate part A, so as to fully uncover the wires 0, the wind passes out between the wires, as indicated by the arrows X, while the straw is stopped by the wires and drops straight down, or nearly so, as indicated by the arrows Y. The straw and wind thus separate, and the straw can drop slowly and practically uninfiuenced by the blast, which is desirable, particularly with light and dry straw. For wet and heavy straw, as well as for light and dry straw which is intended to be blown to any desired point on the stack with full force, the hood is pulled down over the wires 0, as in dicated by dotted lines, where it is shown dropped to its full extent. In this Way not only the straw but the blast is deflected downward, the blast continuing to act on the straw with full force, and by adjusting the hood so that it covers more or less of the Wires the straw can readily be blown to any desired point upon the stack.

Having now described my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carriedinto effect, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a pneumatic straw-stacker, the combination with the trunk having a downwardly-curved elbow-shaped discharge end, of the grille or grating O, and the hood B hinged to the trunk and adapted to telescope upon the discharge end of the same and to cover more or less of the length of said grating as desired, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. In a pneumatic straw-stacker, the combination with the downwardly-curved discharge end of the trunk of the telescopic hood hinged thereto, the grille or grating C,

and the imperforate extension A under the arrangement and for joint operation as set forth.

3. In a pneumatic straw-stacker, a trunk provided with a downwardly-turned discharge end, having a portion of its length against which the blast impinges made in open-Work so as to permit the passage of the wind but arrest the straw, in combination with a telescopic hood hinged to the trunk and adapted to move back and forth upon the said openwork portion so as to cover more or less of the same as desired, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of September, 1807.

ANTON MOELLENBEOK.

Witnesses:

J OE SHOREY, J OHANNES KARDEL. 

